Album designs take 2

My dad still hasn't got a band name. In fact I think he needs some help. If I had a band I'd name it Death Panda. In fact, I tried to write an ad about a band called Death Panda once. Maybe it was more like death advert as it didn't get bought. 

Annnyyyyywayyyy...Dad's album cover still isn't pinned down. That's partly because the singer, his mate Steve, is sulking because he didn't want to call the album The Happy Shed. Nevertheless, I have been refining and making changes they suggest. Here are some of the more recent designs. 

Creepy Shed has become a bit more friendly. 

Crossed Guitars has gone all chalk board.

And Starburst had to go less happy clappy. 

Let me know if you have a good band name for a group of retired rockers with a blues hue. I will put it to the panel. 

Getty made good

Getty isn't the coolest. Stock imagery never is. But its pretty damn helpful to a creative like me. So I'm quite chuffed to see that they have a new clever advert by Almap BBDO. Poor Almap BBDO. They must have had to trawl Getty for weeks, perhaps months to put the images together to build this fun little film. Take a lookie.

Underwater photography by Phoebe Rudomino

Pinterest is the source for much of my discovery these days. I carefully choose who I follow and end up with a constant feed of beautiful pictures. One such was a Pin from the Saatchi Gallery of a gorgeous underwater image by Phoebe Rudomino. As well as creating a portfolio of personal projects she has worked documenting TV show and film underwater scenes - including, weirdly, Little Britain. She works from Pinewood Studios underwater stage and is, of course, a brilliant diver.

Here are some of her stunning images.

The Saatchi Gallery photo - taken on a Johnson and Johnson commercial. 

From Plastic Soup - an exhibition exploring marine pollution. 

Little Britain. 

Basic Instinct 2

The Quays

See more of Phoebe's work here:

http://phoeberudomino.com/home.html

Album designs for Rock Dad

My Dad is a rock dad. I grew up telling him to turn down his music, to stop playing his guitar because it's past midnight, trying to rein in his red wine drinking and listening to his latest blues riffs. Now my rock dad is nearing retirement he is putting a band together and has written an album of songs with his friend Steve. Its pretty good too. There are ones that make me cry - the one about my mother who died has wonderful words, ones with great guitar riffs and lovely ones about our hometown of Swansea. Right now he's writing one with funny rhymes about his dating exploits. My dad is loved by the ladies.

He has put a lot of hard work into his album and he has asked me to make him an album cover. His album is called The Happy Shed - rock dad is still a man and men love their sheds. But the band is yet unnamed. These are my first attempts - they aren't in the right size and format yet - I'm going to work that out when he has chosen a design. Then I'll also design the back and the spines. He might not use them but I thought it would be fun to share.

Painting Addiction

Decorating isn't everyone's cup of tea. But I like to get stuck in. I can paint all day - even if its just painting a second coat of white emulsion. But I find that it's like an addiction. Once you start you are itching to paint more, and more, GOD DAMN IT I WANT TO PAINT MY ENTIRE HOUSE RIGHT NOW!!!!

Ok sorry, I'm under control again. Because I can't get on with the painting without pulling up the carpets first (that...not so fun - who knows what I'll find! Insects, dust, uneven floorboards, rotten floorboards - I am scared), I have decided to finish a canvas that I started a while back. It is a painting that I created from different found images - some from rock album posters, some from the beautiful pictures on the Guardian Eyewitness app.

It's a work in progress at the mo. I need to refine the face, I might add patterning in the hair, I'm not sure. I may even add flecks of gold in the leaves. And the blue and white fields need a lot of work too. But hey here it is anyway. I don't know what the picture is trying to say. To my boyfriend it's about spirituality. And maybe that's true. It's got happy colours but it does seem kind of still and almost sad. It seems to be about time stopping at different points. About thought, about nature and religion. When I've finished, maybe it will mean something else. 

Clouds beautiful daydreams

Today's theme send around in the creative department has been clouds. First we have Berndnaut Smilde who uses fog machines and careful controlling of temperature and humidity to create little clouds in empty rooms which he then photographs. Here are the beautiful results:

Creating weather is a bit like playing God. Not in a bad way it's just awe inspiring. If you'd like to see the clouds being created watch the video below. The artist speaks in Dutch so if that means nothing to you (like me) just skip forward to the beautiful cloud bits.

The second of our beautiful cloud artists creates clouds of colour. Brice Bischoff takes pictures of swirling mists of colour in the Bronson Caves in Los Angeles. These caves have been the settings of many movies - they've seen explosions, gun fights and even stone age people. These clouds are just as staged - in fact they could be seen as records of performances. They are made by the artist himself dancing covered with brightly coloured paper and captured in long exposure. Bischoff calls the result a "chaotic specter of fictional realities" against the unchanging landscape.

Personally I find the last one the most haunting. It looks like a man on fire - or an angel falling. If you know of any other artists who work with clouds in some way let me know. 

Thanks to Debs and Thomas for this post.

The Kittens Are Here!!!

Just a quick kitten update. Mummy cat has given birth to 5 brown tabby Siberians. Cuteness!

Kitten News

I am currently in the process of adopting two Siberian kittens. I say adopting not buying because this is a difficult and time consuming process - much like adopting a child. There are only about 50 breeders in the UK. One breeder I have been speaking to has 4 kittens and a waiting list of 16. And since these are hobby breeders - which is nice as they don't put too much pressure on their pets - there aren't often litters up for grabs. Not only that I have had to meet breeders personally to check my suitability, fill in questionnaires about my circumstances and keep in regular contact.

The breeder who I met at the recent pet show in Earls Court and who has promised me two of her kittens has been sending me weekly updates with pictures of mummy cat. I thought I'd share some with you all. Check out her fat kitten belly.

So why a Siberian right? I could just go down the cattery and save a kitten from homelessness. Yes I know. But I like the idea of choosing a temperament and a look and my Fiance wants to get kittens. With kittens from a rescue centre how they turn out as adults is a little up to chance. Plus I've fallen in love with the Siberian breed - they are gentle but fairly energetic, inquisitive, fluffy with gorgeous faces and HUGE. In fact they are three times the size of Enzo our office dog (he is a miniature jack russel). 

When the kittens come along I will be posting some pics - shouldn't be long!!

Comments problems

A number of friends have told me that they tried and failed to comment on my blog. So I have made a couple of changes that might help. One is that I made the comments full page instead of embedded - apparently people need specific cookies to comment when it is embedded. The other is that I have turned word verification off. The next step would be completely resetting my blog which sounds dangerous to me. So I hope that helps. Let me know! 

Sleep in a Piece of Graphic Design

Where can advertising go when its not advertising? Well, how about a...hotel?
For the launch of the rather boring looking Volkswagen Fox 21 (see below)

...international artists from the fields of graphic design, urban art and illustration each took on one or more of the rooms at Hotel Fox in Copenhagen. Here is the result.

Dryads by Rinzen

King's Forest by Birgit Amadori

The Royal Wedding by Container

Two Swans (Fertility Shrine) by Friendswithyou

King's Court by Birgit Amadori

Harmony's Helm by Friendswithyou

Tinkp Eepe by Freaklub

Japanese Garden by Tokidoki

Sleep Seasons by Rinzen

Spring Grove by Anke Vera Zink

Heavenly Palace by Friendswithyou

Promoting the actual car...looks good, but I feel the cool was lent. This isn't a particularly breakthrough design and I wonder how tenuous the actual link between the car and the hotel really was. Were the creatives given a brief that told them the car designers really thought outside the box? Was it meant to be a modern urban environment car? 

For more information on the stories behind these rooms or the artists involved visit the hotel site at : http://www.hotelfox.dk/

And if anyone has stayed there let me know!

Therapy a la Prada

It's always nice when advertising doesn't feel like advertising. In both agencies that I have worked for this was always the big aim. The biggest criticism was always "It feel like an advert" - a dirty word within the world of advertising it seems. Selly selly? Well, its just not cool. So we try to create experiences, bits of entertainment, dress things up as short films, music videos, pieces of journalism and games.

In Prada's new advert premiered at the Cannes film festival they have achieved this aim. This is advertising alright, but it is niftily disguised as a short art film - with Helena Bonham Carter (LOVE) and Ben Kingsley. It's also directed by Roman Polanski.

The product placement is subtle - we see Helena kick off her Prada shoes. And it seems Prada has a sense of humour. Helena plays a spoilt rich daddy's girl wearing Prada. She's no waif-like angle lit by sun flares on a beach. This is no boring perfume advert. Instead we have a psychotherapist's room and Kingsley who cannot resist the lure of trying a dramatic glamourous pose in a woman's fur coat.

Funny that Prada chose the fur coat to play centre stage - that's not gonna make Peta pleased.
Nice job though guys.

Friends in cool places

It's always nice in life to ride out a bit on the success of your friends. I like to boast that I have friends in high places, interesting professions and even slightly famous ones - ones who have their own Wikipedia pages. So it is with great pride that I announce to you all that my friend and advertising college housemate Hollie has made her debut as a music video director!  Here is her video for Bright Light Bright Light's "A New Word to Say". 

Well done Hols. It's pretty cool. 

When I asked Hols about the shoot she said "Well... the main thing was the noise! 3,000 balloons and they kept popping every few seconds. It was a massive factory space so it sounded like gunfire every time. 8 hours into the shoot and we still had tiny heart attacks every time one went off. Except for Rod, our artist, who was cool as a cucumber. That's professional pop stars for you...". 

So there you have a lesson from Hollie. If making a video with that many balloons bring earplugs.